DescentBB

So, Mrs Dedman and I are selling our house. This means all the little things that are broken that we have put up with over the years now HAVE to be fixed. While I donâ??t claim to be Bob Villa-esque I am not completely incompetent when it comes to handy work. Itâ??s mostly a matter of not having to have done a lot of stuff before. Once I try it a few times, I enjoy doing the home improvement thing.

Anyway, back to the story. We have a exterior faucet shut-off valve that leaks when it is opened. Dedman thinks to himself, how hard can it be to install a new valve. Buy the right type of valve, get some ½ inch copper pipe, a few copper elbows, and the soldering equipment and Iâ??m off to the races. So I get all the stuff and even read the â??soldering copper pipeâ?

call in a pro.

in addition to the plumber, a house inspector wouldn't be too bad either.

the more you fix, the more you can ask for the house.

if you get HGTV, they have some shows that detail what it gets to get a house sold.

Seems like you've almost got it. I'd re-read on how to solder copper pipe and try it again. Its not all that difficult.

that depends on whether or not you're a real man, because real men don't ask for help or directions

You have to heat the pipe for a few minutes with the torch first. When you apply the solder, put it on the opposite side of the flame. Use about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of solder. It will circle the inside of the pipe on it's own.

Sounds like you didn't get the pipe hot enough. When your heating the pipe watch the back side where the flame is comming off. When it starts to turn green remove the flame and hit it with the solder. It should flow realy fast, the 1/2 inch of solder should melt instantly.
Another thing, you should remove the guts from the frostless hose bib, err, the exterior faucet shut-off valve thingy as the heat tends to fubar the nylon/rubber parts.
You should be able to resolder the joints without tearing it apart, you'll just have to make sure all the water is out of the pipe before you try.

ps. keep a wet rag handy in case you set something on fire

Testiculese wrote:You have to heat the pipe for a few minutes with the torch first. When you apply the solder, put it on the opposite side of the flame. Use about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of solder. It will circle the inside of the pipe on it's own.

A few minutes??!?!? o_O Maybe if you are using a cigarrete lighter! I could melt a copper pipe with the mapp gas torch I use in a few minutes. General rule in soldering: If it takes longer then about 15-20 seconds to sweat one joint, you are doing it wrong.

It is really quite simple once you get used to it. Clean then flux up the outside of the pipe, and the inside of the fitting, stick them together, heat the fitting (not the pipe) till it is hot enough, you should notice the copper changes color slightly as it heats up, the flux boils and a test bit of solder will melt. You want to heat it up till the solder melts instantly, and you should see the flux suck the solder into the joint. Then once you have enough solder in(use more then you need rather then less ) I normally either drop the pece I am working on into a bucket of water to instantly cool it, or spray it with a spray bottle of water if it is already in place.

Wow, the things you learn on the DBB! As luck would have it I have an exterior faucet to replace.

I think I am going to call in a pro, but thanks for the advice.

Weenie.

Yep! I'm gonna have to plead weenie on this one. Sorry guys.

All you needed was to remove the packing and replace the O ring!
I know, a lot of good that is now.

You should try again, you probably were afraid to get it hot enough..or didn't have a torch that's capable.
You can stuff some bread down the pipe to keep the stray drip from rolling into your work and cooling the piece prematurely, that may have been the problem. Don't be afraid to make that copper glow although that's usually not necessary it won't hurt.

Nah, theres no need to heat the copper till it glows, the solder melts at 400, doesnt take very long for even a small torch to get it that hot.

Krom wrote:Nah, theres no need to heat the copper till it glows, the solder melts at 400, doesnt take very long for even a small torch to get it that hot.

Well no, but...the faucet acts as a heatsink a few stray drops of water rolling down the pipe can cool a spot or create steam...especially if he left the valve shut on the new faucet when he hit it with the torch...too small of a torch can be a problem for a rookie where someone with experience could do it no problem.

Dedman, heat that blob of solder you have on there until it flows like butter on a pancake and save yourself $125.

True enough water slows it all down, but by the time the pipe is glowing you have already vaporized all of the flux and its not going to pull the solder into the joint very well.

First of all, you need to use hard solder (brass or silver solder).

Next, you need an appropriate (gas) torch.

To hard solder copper joints, do as Krom wrote. Hard solder gets liquid at temperatures over 450° C, usually the process temperature is over 600° C.

The hard solder should melt very quickly and fill the gaps between the fitting and the tubes.

Cool with enough water.

It's really simple and straight forward.

One thing: Check whether the equipment and material would be more expensive than having it done by a pro.